She Couldn't Help but Smile Back
by bojangles25
Summary: Little moments taking place during Book 3, starting with the end of The Stakeout and ending at the beginning of The Ultimatum. Because these episodes couldn't have been more packed with suggestion if Bryke had tried. Korrasami.


**So I see that it is Korrasami month? It's not a prompt, but here's a contribution anyway. I'll probably add a second chapter set during Book 4.**

* * *

Her arms burned as her eyes blinked open, but when she tried to lower them, the sharp choke of metal around her wrists and forearms forced Asami Sato to swallow a cry of pain. Practice had made the motion easy at this point. She was used to swallowing her pain and hiding it deep, where none could see it. She had grown skilled at it. Korra was one of the few who…

Her eyes fell on the twisted contraption of metal and leather straps leaning against the far wall from the lone door. Limp, sweat-soaked strands of chocolate hair were all that could be seen above the mask concealing the bottom half of the face it belonged to, but there was no mistaking who it belonged to. Asami looked away as cruel memory mocked her. They had been so close to escaping. Zaheer's group was far behind. Asami had almost dared to smile before the trap sprung and she found herself enclosed within rock. Naga had fought so hard. She hoped the poor polar bear dog had gotten away.

The good news was that they had not been captured by Zaheer. At least, Asami felt confident this was not the doing of the terrorist they had fled from back in the Misty Palms Oasis. Despite the chaos once the rock walls dropped and Naga sprang snarling forward, Asami had caught a glimpse of the uniforms their captors wore. This was the Earth Queen. That gave them a chance.

She frowned down at the dirty floor. There had been much more than a chance. She had lost focus. She had thought them safe and turned her focus towards Bolin and Mako, planning how she and Korra could free them from whatever captivity Zaheer's band placed them in. This was all Asami's fault. She had been trusted with her best friend's safety and failed. She had hoped such failures were a thing of the past. Something she had grown past.

It made her wonder if she had changed at all from the naïve fool who nearly lost everything. Things had gone so well recently. Future Industries was again a growing success. The memory of her father's betrayal, while never far from her thoughts, had silenced considerably. She had found considerable happiness in her friends. She had found happiness with Korra. This time a smile could not be denied. She again looked over at her friend, thankful for the drastic change in their relationship since the day those icy blue eyes had chilled Asami at Tarrlok's gala at City Hall. The familiar rapid beat of her heart returned, and she again found herself wondering whether its cause was more than admiration and a crush. It also made her failure hurt that much more.

Keys jangled in the lock outside the door and Asami turned her attention towards the man who entered behind the scrape of the door bottom. He was an overweight man, and his bushy moustache had only recently turned grey. He cast a quick, worried glance towards Korra before turning towards Asami. His eyes were soft and kind. His features were familiar. Asami almost let herself relax.

"We've nearly arrived at the airship," the officer said. Captain, if Asami remembered Earth Kingdom emblems correctly. "From there you will be transported to Ba Sing Se and the Earth Queen's custody. The Avatar is our only objective here. Once she is safely tucked away we will let you go, as long as you can control yourself. Understood?"

Asami nodded. Her wrists throbbed and her teeth clenched together painfully.

"Good. We have no desire to harm you. Please, make sure the Avatar understands this when she comes to. Make sure she complies. I don't wish to harm you, but I will do what I must to complete my mission."

 _Her name is Korra._ Asami nodded, and watched as the captain left the cell, slamming the door shut behind him and turning the lock. She breathed deep to chase away the tears. A groan broke the silence, and it wasn't until Korra spoke that Asami realized it had not been her own.

"Zaheer! You tricked me! Let me go!" The fire in Korra's fiery blue eyes cooled when they landed on Asami. "Asami! Are you okay? Where's the rest of the Red Lotus?"

The engineer frowned. "What's the Red Lotus? And…Zaheer didn't capture us. The Earth Queen's forces did."

Korra's eyes squinted in confusion. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure. Some camp by the desert. They're taking us back to Ba Sing Se." Asami turned towards the door, not wanting to see the accusation in Korra's eyes. The blame. She had promised to watch over the Avatar and keep her safe. Who else could possibly be blamed? All she could do now was wait for a chance to rectify her failure. Asami Sato liked to believe she had become proficient at rectifying her failures.

* * *

It was all she could do not to breath out a huge sigh at the sight of the airship they were to board. Instead Asami kept her head low and her expression defeated while Korra ranted beside her. She shuffled up the ramp leading inside, followed her escort through the corridors, and entered her latest cell meekly, never giving any impression besides that of complete surrender. After she convinced the young soldier responsible for restraining her to chain her to the railing, she gave it a subtle pull. Shoddy workmanship. There were many reasons Future Industries had recovered, and Cabbage Corp's inferior quality was an important one.

The chains around her wrists made crawling in the spaces beneath the floor uncomfortable, but nothing she couldn't manage. The lone footsteps of the guard patrolling the corridor outside their cell passed over her head twice. She crawled into an empty, adjacent room and smashed the links binding her to the detached railing. They must have manufactured by Cabbage Corp as well, she thought. The soldier's footsteps passed by a third time and came to a shuffling halt, the metal groaning beneath him.

"Guard!" Korra shouted, her voice well panicked. "Get in here! Something happened to my friend! She needs help!"

Asami crept from the empty room and towards the distracted young soldier. A single blow rendered him unconscious. Only four keys hung from the ring at his waist, and she strutted into the cell twirling them around her finger. _Why did I just do that?_ Whatever Korra might have thought, she said nothing as Asami unlocked the restraints keeping the Avatar prisoner.

"Nice work," Korra said when her straightjacket fell to the ground. She took a moment to roll the kinks from her shoulders, and Asami caught herself staring at the toned muscles in her triceps. "Now let's take control of this ship."

Asami grabbed the Avatar's arm before she could storm off obliviously. "Let me take the lead. I know these airships just as well as my own. I can get us to the bridge quicker than if you start tearing the ship apart."

Korra crossed her arms, the muscles rippling with anticipation and barely restrained power. "Good idea. How do you know so much about Cabbage Corp, anyway?"

"You can't give your customers a better product than your competitors unless you know your competitors. Good thing the Earth Queen is cheap." Asami smirked, but quickly wiped it from her face. "I'm sorry I got us in this situation. I tried to fight. Naga, too, but…"

"Don't apologize," Korra said. "If not for you I'd still be locked up. You did your best."

That was the problem. Asami's best never seemed to be good enough. Not to protect Korra, not to protect her company, not even to be the most important thing in her own father's life. "I don't know where Naga went. I don't think they captured her."

"Of course not. We'd know. She'd howl louder than this thing runs, believe me." Korra laughed, then put a hand on Asami's shoulder. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself, okay? We're fine now, and we're going to get out of here. We'll find Mako and Bolin, beat these Red Lotus jerks up, and save the world. If we can handle the embodiment of chaos and evil, I think we can handle Zaheer's little band."

Asami had somehow forgotten about Mako and Bolin. Korra's kind words only made her feel worse, but she tried for confidence anyway. "Let's do this, then."

* * *

The Avatar flicked the sweat from her forehead, feeling entirely gross from head to toe. The desert was hot enough, but the engine room had made her felt like boiling cabbage. At least the task was done now. A merciful breeze whisked through her hair as she followed the sound of screeching metal where Asami continued her repairs.

Korra took a moment to watch her friend work. While there would always be that stupid, competitive part of her that felt a little jealous of Asami's technological prowess, the same stupid competitiveness that once drove her to take secret driving lessons in hopes of one day revisiting the engineer's race track and beating her, Korra had mostly learned to appreciate Asami's skills. How would Team Avatar ever have managed without them? And it was nice to see Asami when she was truly passionate about something. Korra had begun to notice the change in her whenever the engineer talked about something she loved.

The screeching stopped, and Asami lifted her visor to examine her work. A frown still adorned her soft features. Korra could never claim to be the best at reading people, but she liked to think their friendship had grown to the point where she knew how to read the often brooding engineer. Asami liked to bury things deep. Too deep. The Avatar could see it now in the way her temples wrinkled and her eyes squinted. It was the same expression Asami often had back when she spent every hour of every day trying to keep Future Industries afloat.

All of that had changed in the two weeks following Harmonic Convergence, as the things returned to normal and their friendship grew. It had been a long time since Korra saw that look, and now she had spent almost every moment since she returned from the Spirit World staring at it. She was determined to change that as she walked over to check on the progress of the repairs and tell Asami the sand was out of the engines.

"How's it looking in there?" Asami shouted from her perch alongside the airship.

"I just airbended all the sand out of the engine room. I think it's clean."

"It hasn't been that clean since it floated off the showroom floor," the crewman at Korra's side said.

"How's it going out here?" the Avatar asked.

Asami grimaced. "Well, she's still pretty banged up but I think she might be able to limp out of the desert. Kong, you want to see if you can get the engines started?"

"Aye-aye."

The engineer rappelled to the ground and unhooked her support wire from her belt. "Well, I could think of worse ways to spend a day trapped in the desert. At least I wasn't bored."

Korra nudged her with an elbow. "I knew I didn't hurt it that bad."

"Some restraint still would have been nice."

From anyone else the comment would have put Korra on the defensive. She and Asami had long ago grown used to the good-natured ribbing they exchanged. The Avatar laughed while she watched Kong hurry into the airship. "Restraint isn't my specialty. I guess I could try to change, but could you imagine me all calm and willing to talk before I punch?"

"No. I don't think I could imagine that."

Korra's grin faltered at her friend's expression. Asami quickly wiped her face clean, but not quickly enough. It was an expression Korra was noticing more and more lately. It reminded her of a look she couldn't quite place. And more and more Korra noticed how that look made her guts twist and her skin warm. She was glad the desert heat would hide the flush in her cheeks.

Sometimes she thought she saw the same flush on Asami's cheeks. That only made Korra's guts twist all the harder.

"Well, don't worry," the Avatar said. "I don't plan to stop beating people up anytime soon."

"Good. I don't think the Red Lotus can be talked out of their plan. Besides, I didn't become friends with a Korra that likes talking to bad guys."

The airship's engines sputtered to a hesitant start and a cheer matched them. It quickly died as a colossal sand shark emerged and snapped the airship in half. Korra sprinted away from a tidal wave of sand left in its wake, Asami at her side. What remained of the broken airship was strewn across the sands.

"Good thing you're not a talker," Asami said, "because that thing isn't willing to listen."

* * *

Finding the Avatar was far from a difficult task. Even if Asami had not managed to hear Naga's excited panting from such a distance or feel the subtle shiver of the earth with every heavy pounce, there was no mistaking the enormous silhouette bounding from spot to spot along the pathway. Though perhaps Naga wasn't quite so enormous compared to the truly titanic creature that had nearly swallowed them whole that day. All in all it was a day that Asami would have been happy to say goodbye to in the comfort of a bed.

Yet, like Korra, she had found sleep the most demanding task yet. The Avatar sat atop the ledge of an overhang, raising blocks from the ground and lowering them as Naga pounced. The polar bear dog stopped when she noticed Asami and trotted over to greet her. She hugged the animal close, truly happy that Naga was safe. Not just for Korra's sake, but her own. Failing to stop Korra's capture was failure enough. If anything had happened to the Avatar's best friend, Asami wouldn't have been able to face her again, and besides, she loved the fuzz ball. They had been through as much together as anyone else in Asami's life.

"Hey, get your own," Korra teased from her perch. A cup made of half the local fruits hanging from the trees sat beside her knee. "Let me finish this and I'll come down."

"That's okay, stay there." Asami took a moment to plan her ascent, then walked over to a nearby palm tree. "Sorry, Naga. You have to stay down here."

Korra grinned at the engineer when she sat beside her on the ledge. "Impressive."

"Maybe a little. I've done harder."

"No doubt. I still wonder if I imagined that flip you did over that bandit bike when we collected the gold for the Earth Queen. I don't think I could do that if you gave me ten tries."

"You wouldn't have to."

"Good point." Korra took a sip of her drink and laughed. "Makes me wonder about those 'self-defense' classes. The way you fight I wonder if you're some kind of secret vigilante."

Asami hoped her uneasy laugh didn't betray how unfortunately close that joke approached the truth. She would never have truly called herself a vigilante, but there had been many lonely nights in the aftermath of her father's imprisonment. Nights where Mako was busy with his police work or passed out in his apartment afterwards. Nights Varrick spent trying to turn Bolin into a star. Nights where Korra was thousands of miles away, and like this night, Asami could no more close her eyes and sleep than she could wake up in the morning and find her father had never been a monster.

And while Team Avatar may not have patrolled the streets anymore, Asami still had the car and desperate need of a distraction.

"We're both kind of stupid, huh?" Korra said. "The Earth Kingdom's in chaos, the Red Lotus are on the loose, Mako and Bolin are captured. If ever there was a night to make sure you get some rest, this is it, yet here we are."

"I haven't been much of a sleeper these past couple of months."

"Me, either." Korra offered her drink to Asami, and the engineer took a sip, not realizing until the fruity liquid hit her tongue just how dry her mouth was. "It used to drive Mako crazy. He didn't even realize he was doing the same thing. He'd find me awake at some way too early hour and go into some stupid rant about rest and nutrition and a healthy body. Then I'd point out just how dark those bags under his eyes were and we would end up fighting. Big surprise, huh? Um, sorry. Seems like I always end up venting about Mako to you."

Asami smiled and took another sip of the drink. "Don't be sorry. I've done the same thing with you. I understand. Mako was your first boyfriend. You're probably still trying to sort out your feelings."

Korra shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I'm glad we're friends despite it all. I still care about him, but I'm over it. I think the only reason I still do that is because we became friends over angry venting over Mako. I'll always be glad about that. I can't imagine not having your around to talk to."

Moonlight floated gently from the clear, cold desert sky to illuminate Korra's lopsided smile and the stray strands of dark hair across her forehead. It was all Asami could do not to clutch at her tightening chest. A crush? Who was she kidding? This had been more than a crush for some time now.

"I'm happy you feel that way. I can't imagine not having you around, either."

"I'm not planning on going anywhere. Or, well, you know what I mean."

Asami was not sure what anything meant at that moment. "Yeah, I understand."

Naga's whine pierced the silence, and a grumpy voice told her to be quiet. Korra and Asami shared a laugh, their shoulders bumping. The engineer was never more grateful for her jacket. She could feel the heat radiating off Korra's skin even through the thick material. It spread from the point of contact, heating her neck and spreading across her chest. Her cheeks flushed hot enough to boil a pot of tea. Wasn't it just like Korra, who was always quick to spread her joy and her anger and her convictions and her pure _good_ to those who knew her?

"Guess we better head down," Korra said reluctantly. She wrapped a muscular arm around Asami's waist and a gust of wind blew Asami's hair into messy tangles. The nonbender could not have possibly cared less.

* * *

Korra's steps were slower than normal, and she kept glancing over at the taller woman beside her. After the fifth time she was caught, Asami finally returned the stare. "What?"

"I'm waiting for you to tell me why this is a bad idea and I shouldn't do it."

"I don't have any other ideas. It's worth a shot."

The breath Korra did not realize she was holding burned as it traveled up her throat and out of her mouth. "Thanks. I'm not sure I know what I'm doing, but I feel like I have to do something. Even if I can't catch Zaheer in the Spirit World, hopefully I can delay him enough that we can catch up."

"You have my full support, Korra." Asami smiled. "You don't have to explain yourself to me. I trust that you are doing what you think is right."

The words invigorated Korra like a hot meal, their encouragement driving her legs to walk faster. Every muscle relaxed from the argument she had stupidly expected. Habit, she figured. She was used to her every decision being questioned. As a child, there were always the White Lotus guards and masters telling her what she could do, what she was capable of, when she could learn to bend an element and judging her abilities. When she left the Southern Water Tribe for Republic City, it had been Tenzin telling her she was wrong. Then Mako, even before they were a couple. Her father had second-guessed her every word during the civil war. Lin, Suyin, President Raiko, the media, everyone loved to tell her what she was doing wrong.

Asami always had her back. Even back when Korra was acting like a jealous jerk, Asami had shown nothing but support. Without a single selfish thought she had supported the Fire Ferrets, helped them fight the Equalists, and even taken down her father. She had given Tenzin an airship to help search for the new airbenders. She had always been there to lend Korra an ear, even during their "rivalry." A rivalry entirely made up in Korra's mind. The Avatar frowned at the thought.

That strange stirring in her guts was accompanied by a stirring in her chest. She had never had any kind of close girl friend before, and had told Asami as much. She wondered if that was why she found it so easy to talk to her, or if it was something special about Asami. It wasn't as if Korra had never been around other women before. Some of the White Lotus guards had been women. She had met crazed fans and gone to dinner parties where she talked with them. She found them much the same as anyone. She met some that were nice, some that were mean, some that were selfish and others that were not. There was something different about Asami.

They reached the tree where she had decided to meditate, and Korra plopped heavily down to the dirt. As always, Asami sank gracefully to her side. "Thanks, Asami. This means a lot to me. Let's hope I don't wake up strapped and in chains this time, huh?"

Korra knew it was a dumb thing to say before the words faded into the sky, and Asami's sorrowful expression only made her feel worse. "I'm sorry. I should have been more careful. I shouldn't have let them capture you."

"No, no! I'm sorry, I didn't…please, you have no reason to feel guilty about that. We didn't expect the Earth Queen's forces. We were focused on Zaheer."

"I still should have kept a better look out."

Asami's face slackened and paled, her eyes brimming with self-blame. Korra wanted nothing more than to reach out and hug her. Instead she placed a gentle hand on her knee. "You've never been anything but helpful since the day we met. I didn't even deserve for you to be so nice to me at first, but you were anyway. Without you I would probably be in the Earth Queen's grasp right now. It's not like Mako or Bolin would have known how to escape from that airship or fix it once it crashed. Come on, I hate seeing you look so down about yourself. You have no reason to be. You're a great person and I'm lucky to know you."

The engineer too a deep breath and raised her eyes up to Korra's. A grateful smile spread across her face. "Thanks. I'm even luckier to know you."

Korra swallowed hard. She recognized the feeling that smile gave her. It was that same feeling she had towards that young White Lotus guard that was her first kiss. It was the same way she felt when she began pro-bending with Mako. The Avatar wondered when she had begun feeling that same way about Asami. She wondered why.

"Well," she said, eager to change the subject. This was not the time to think about crushes or why she had one. "Let's do this."

Asami was still smiling. "Good luck."

Korra took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind of the thoughts. Asami's smile was the last of them, and it remained the one constant as one world faded into another. She still smiled when Korra returned from the Spirit World, and the Avatar couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

 **Any comments or noticed mistakes in grammar or lore are always welcome.**


End file.
